Folker is a great old chap that has done a lot of long distance riding on one or the other of his Beemers. Mark and I used to catch up with him on Southern Cross Rallys and Grand Challenges (he was doing them well into his 70's) and I'm sure that Geoff knows him too.
He knows how to pedal his bikes (and definitely how to keep them running) fairly well and has been known to get along at times. I won't share any incriminating stories but he did pass me on the outside on the Tahora Saddle (Forgotten Highway) one day. I was probably on the Connie...
I happy to be an FB friend of his too and he definitely is still out there cruising hooning around the place.
Anyway, here's the podcast and I really hope I'm able to be doing what he's still doing at his age!
I don't usually post up too much about my planned rides (ok, maybe planning stuff for distance events) but tomorrow I am planning on going for a little ride.
Chris, his wife Stella and a mate are riding a Saddlesore 1000 (1000miles in 24 hours) on the shortest day of the year and are also riding in aid of an animal rescue charity - Aran Animal Rescue.
Colin and I have decided that we needed to meet up with him and make sure he doesn't get lost down here in our neck of the woods. And after a day of rain (preceded by 3 very frosty mornings), the weather looks good!
January
I got test ride an XT660R and ride the Chateau to Plateau but the highlight was a nice quiet ride up Route 52 - one of my favourites. It was a beautiful day!
February
There's no question that the highlight of February was Scooter Bob's visit and the chance to show him the South Island on the TT2000.
July
In July we had a great BRRBT ride but my favourite ride of the month was a quiet little trip up the Pohangina Valley on the DL.
August
In August we had another great BRRBT ride where I got plenty of puncture fixing practice but one non-riding highlight was changing the tyres on the Connie and also replacing the batteries in the TPS sensors - something I'd never done and where Dad came in pretty handy...
September
In September Neil and I were glad to see the beginnings of Spring and had ourselves a fantastic gravel ride.
October
In October I was a little disappointed to miss out on completing the NI1600 but I did have a cracker of a ride up through the Waioeka Gorge - even if it rained for half of the ride and I got no pictures...
Very wet weekend so the bikes didn't even get the littlest run :(
But I had to post up these awesome vids of a crazy Canuk's extreme winter ride on his clapped out KLR. They're really well made and he sure has an awesome sense of humour! Compulsory viewing!
Amazing achievement for a fantastic bike - gives me something to aim for...at the current rate it should take me about 50 years to reach that milestone on the Connie...
This time a 2.5L - it should not want for torque! At first I thought someone had jammed a car donk in a bike frame but check out the rev counter - looks like it revs like a bike. Sounds sweet too. Still overkill...
Another great blog to read is that of Annie Seel, a competitor in this year's Dakar Rally. I've been reading it for a while and Annie is a fantastic competitor favouring hard out enduros but also taking part in road racing (last year riding an electric bike in a few events).
In last year's Dakar she was unlucky enough to ride into a tomb, having to be lifted out by helicopter! This year she has been riding well but is currently suffering from food poisoning which is naturally robbing her of a lot of strength - but she is very tough and is still racing hard. I'm sure that once she fights off the bug she'll hit her stride again and prove what a fantastic rider she is.
My hat is truly off to all bike riders in this event and I wish them all well and hope that none suffer any serious misfortunes!
I got to watch the Doctor take out his 9th world title last night in pretty bad conditions.
The race was delayed for quite a while due to a pretty wet looking thunderstorm and the track was wet for the duration of the race but Rossi was able to do more than what he needed to clinch the title by finishing 3rd ahead of Lorenzo. Fantastic!
Hats off to Stoner too who just cleared out from everyone to finish a good fifteen seconds ahead of second placed Pedrosa.
Awesome watching these fantastic riders hanging it out in the wet!
Wow, it's only been 2 years and it look like next year's Connie is in for some pretty reasonable changes. Not completely convinced by the belly-pan but the fairing and muffler look ok. And there's more technology to play with:
